Two Wrongs Make It Right/Five
five “The words you speak, surrounding me This is broken love, in the first degree The air you breathe is haunting me Maybe I'll change your mind” --Catch Fire, 5SOS --jet Because we were dismissed from guard duty early today, Lavender and I return to where Carson, Ivy, Peony, and my siblings are camped out pretty early. "Jet!" Holly squeals, throwing herself at me. "Hey Holly," I touch my nose to hers. "Did you guys behave today?" "They were ranbunctious and annoying," Ivy scoffs, "No wonder you spend all day at your job so you don't have to deal with them." "Be nice!" Peony smacks her. Ivy smiles slightly and she reaches forward and tickles Silvia, who giggles. Silvia is usually on the side, never really interacting with anyone except maybe Jacky. She's used to being ignored and I'm happy that Ivy has befriended her. "You know you like them," I tease. Lavender greets Jacky, who doesn't really know her yet. "They're so cute, Jet," she coos, "I wish I had younger siblings!" "Not with our jobs," I say lightly. Lavender's expression falls and I immediately regret saying that. "Sorry," I mutter, "you're right though, siblings are pretty nice. I love them." "At least you love something," Lavender says softly, before going to where Ivy is messing with Silvia to save the little kit from being tickled to death. I stay where I am, unsure what to say. Lavender doesn't look back at me so I try to distract myself from my thoughts by playing with Holly. "You guys are back early," Carson ducks into the hideout with prey in his jaws, "I thought I heard your voices. What about guard duty?" "Grayshadow let us off early," I say mindlessly, distracted by Holly. "Grayshadow?" Carson repeats. Lavender looks up. "Oh that's right, we didn't tell them, Jet!" She scampers back over to my side and I let go of Holly, who goes over to Silvia. "We found someone at the meeting--or more like outside of the meeting because he doesn't agree with them either--and his name is Grayshadow. He's going to meet us here at midnight today." "Why the release from guard duty?" Carson frowns, "It's not like that would prevent you from getting out here on time." "He wants us to focus on our goal," I explain, "instead of being distracted by having to go to our job. He wants us to stop showing up." "Stop showing up?" Ivy gapes, "That could get you landed in prison!" Peony has a puzzled expression. "Don't we know a Grayshadow?" She looks over at Carson's expression and she bites her lip. "I thought so." Ivy takes a little longer to figure it out. "Oh, that's him? No way. No way we're going to meet him at midnight," she spits out, "this is ridiculous." "What?" I ask, "What are you guys talking about?" "Grayshadow," Carson says slowly, "has been on our tail for awhile. He's the reason we're kind of on the run from IceClan. He's determined to think that we're filthy criminals and that we need to be detained." "Maybe because you guys came from the intruders' side?" Lavender offers, "Or at least you and Peony did, right? IceClan isn't exactly best friends with them." "Or he just hates criminals," I shrug, "He doesn't actually hate you guys I bet. Once he finds out how good you guys are, he won't care about your pasts." "If you say so," Peony says doubtfully. Ivy snorts. "Stars, are we really still going with this plan? We should just ditch now and leave. Leave IceClan to its own mess." "And the other rogues?" Lavender defends, "We're not just doing this for us." "We can just get them all to leave," Ivy lashes her tail, "Why risk our lives for something that shouldn't matter this much to us?" "It matters because it's our lives too," I flatten my ears, "if you're so against it, then leave. Get your sorry tail across the border and go find a life that suits you." The light brown tabby stares at me for a long time, shock in her eyes. Her eyes narrow and she says. "I don't do things for myself. I do things for the cats I care about. If Carson and Peony are staying, then so am I. I'm not letting these fools stay here on their own." Suddenly I notice the way her eyes linger on Carson a little longer than they do on Peony. Does Ivy have feelings for Carson even though she knows he's with Peony? "I have a question," Lavender pipes up, "I can understand why Carson and Peony would be against IceClan but why are you?" She directs her question at Ivy. "Didn't you say you were born in IceClan?" "I was," Ivy's tone is flat, "But my reasoning is none of your business." Lavender looks like she wants to pry but I move on. "Since Carson and Peony haven't said they wanted to leave, I'm guessing we're all staying. The point is that Grayshadow is coming over later at midnight and we need to be prepared to meet him. He might be our only chance to defeat IceClan because it's obvious the intruders won't do anything to help us." "The intruders hate IceClan," Ivy points out, "they'll do anything to prove to the rogues that we should join their side. All their attacks are to provoke IceClan or to harm IceClan. They've never directly tried to harm the rogues before." "But they're vicious," Peony shudders, "they'll kill the innocent to prove their point." Ivy's eyes darken and Peony wraps her tail around her friend. It's obvious that something had happened in Ivy's past that involved the intruders for her to hate both IceClan and the intruders so much. And of course Peony and Carson would know what that is. I don't expect her to explain; we barely know each other. Though I suppose it didn't take long for Lavender to open up about her past. Ivy doesn't elaborate, but even if she wanted to, Grayshadow strolls in. It's before midnight but none of us mention him being early. Grayshadow's eyes sweep over Lavender and I before landing on Ivy, Peony, and Carson. He narrows his eyes slightly at them before turning back to Lavender and I. "I decided to come early because I have a plan set up for the five of you." The gray tom seems to note my little siblings but he doesn't include them in the planning. Granted, I don't expect my siblings to do much since they're only six moons old. "Here is the deal: if you do succeed in ridding IceClan of its enemies, I will reward all the rogues graciously and treat them fairly, as they should be treated. In return, I will deal with IceClan's leadership and find a way to lead IceClan myself, so that I can integrate the idea of equality in everyone's mind." "Sounds good," Carson reasons, "what's the real plan though?" "I'll let you in on some Clan secrets." Grayshadow inches closer and lowers his voices, "IceClan's leader found the intruders' camp by chance, not by some brilliant plan. But everyone in IceClan believes in his brilliance, and that's why he has everyone's support. If I exploit this, they'll realize he's a an idiot by his own rights and they'll rally behind me instead." I don't point out that I think Grayshadow is half an idiot himself. But Lavender is nodding along and her eyes show fierce convinction that this is right. "Your job today is to rally rogues," Grayshadow orders, "get as many as you can to support this revolution and report back here. You can spend the next day doing that." With that said and done, Grayshadow turns and swiftly walks away from the camp. Ivy lets out her breath and Peony sags slightly. "He was totally onto us," Ivy mutters, "just you wait, he'll scheme something and get revenge on us. He's kind of looked down upon because of his failure to capture the 'notorious criminals of IceClan'." "Don't be so pessimistic," Lavender scolds. "It's not like you guys are renegades, right?" "You never know," Carson says teasingly, "maybe we're infamous for being loyal IceClan soldiers before turning of them." "Haha," I say dryly. "Let's go," Lavender herds my siblings along too. "We might as well utilize this time." As we follow Lavender out, we make some small talk. Carson and Peony are talking among themselves, which leaves Ivy with Lavender and I. The light brown she-cat seems perfectly relaxed, her eyes wandering. But the way she had snapped back at us about her past shows how much she's gone through herself. My eyes flit to Carson and Peony, who have smiles on their faces. I've never imagined being surrounded by cats who had lost everything yet can still place a smile on their face like it doesn't bother them. "Hey," Lavender nudges me, "what're you thinking?" "About our pasts," I admit. There's a flicker of something--pain, sympathy, I don't know--in Lavender's eyes but she gives me a brilliant smile. "We'll make it all worth," she says softly, "we'll fight for the injustices placed upon us before." "Was there a reason for the fire?" I ask. Lavender gets it immediately. This time I can tell there's pain in her eyes and I regret asking her. I want to take it back but Lavender is already answering. "I don't know," she gives a soft sigh, "I don't think I'll never know. We didn't live so close to the intruders but that never stopped them from staging raids or attacking innocent families. I don't even know if IceClan did it." I shiver at the thought of IceClan betraying its own cats but it's not like IceClan has ever considered the rogues as part of IceClan. "I'm sorry," I murmur quietly, even though I know condolences don't do much good. "What about you?" "What about me?" I flick my ear. "Your mother. Do you know the cause of her demise?" Lavender stares into my eyes, holding me up, giving me the courage to think back to my mother's death. The coughing was getting on my nerves, but at the same time I was worried about his mother. She had just given birth to three kits but she had come down with a disease. My father didn't do anything to help except leaving home so he wouldn't see his mate in pain. I tried my best but we didn't have the right connections with IceClan to ask for help. Nobody around us knew herbs either and every day my mother wasted away. Then came the final day. "Jet," she croaked, "can you get me water?" I dutifully brought her the requested water and watched as she drank it. Immediately, she coughed it back up, nearly spilling all of it over my siblings. I quickly herded the kits away, fearing that they would catch the disease as well. They had been lucky so far, still trying to get milk from my mother, but her milk had long ran out. "More water," she pleaded. Again I went to retrieve more water but my mother threw it up again. She continued to beg for water and I continued to try to get her water, but every time she would heave it out of her system. She stopped eating as well. Nothing was going down her stomach and I couldn't figure out how to cure her. When she finally died, all I could remember was thinking that I had been waiting for this day to come with dread for far too long. "I don't know," I finally tell Lavender, blinking away the memory, "She was just terribly sick and in the end she couldn't keep down anything. It was terrible." She doesn't tell me that she's sorry, but I can tell by the look in her eyes that she can connect with losing someone she loved. For some reason, sharing this with Lavender soothes my heart. I almost want to pour out my whole story to her, telling her the pains of being a father at twelve moons old, the pains of trying to beat back my father when he came home looking for someone to toy with. But she turns away and focuses some of her attention on my siblings, releasing me from her hold. I sag a little and notice that Silvia and Ivy are walking side by side and Silvia is giggling at whatever Ivy is saying. I smile almost sadly at the sight, but it relieves me that Silvia is getting along with someone. We roam from den to den, telling rogues about our mission and about Grayshadow. Thankfully Ivy keeps her mouth shut about Grayshadow's previous record of chasing them down and we manage to convince all the rogues we come across. But there are so many dens scattered everywhere. With only one day to complete this mission, Lavender suggests that we ask the rogues we've recruited to start spreading the word so we can cover more ground. By the end of the day, we've gathered so many rogues I can't even see the ground past them. We're back near the stronghold, and I exchange delighted smiles with Lavender. "Looks like we've got ourselves an army," she purrs, "what do you think?" "An army?" I snort, "Pfft, we've got ourselves a sea of cats." But nevertheless, it's satisfying to realize what kind of resistance we could put up with so many cats. --lavender We wait for a bit before Jet gets impatient. "Where is Grayshadow?" He spits out, "He shouldn't be late. Leaders don't just ignore meetings or specific times. He's the one who set the deadline too!" "Calm down," I mutter, "Grayshadow's probably just busy. Or he can't get out right now. In case you haven't noticed, he's working behind the leader's back." "So are we," Jet points out, "and we're on time!" "If you're so desperate to go find that scoundrel," Ivy growls, "then why don't you go into camp to look for him? We can wait here, thank you." Jet's eye twitches at the challenging tone in her voice but I speak up first before a fight could break out. "Maybe we will do that," I say, giving Jet a meaningful glance, "it'll give us an opportunity to see what's going on inside the stronghold too." "We know what goes on in there," Jet snorts, "cats are stacked high with prey and they do nothing but let us do all the dirty work." "Not like that," I roll my eyes, "like the situation. I want to know what Grayshadow has accomplished in the camp." "Probably nothing," Ivy licks a paw daintly and ignores us, "that tom is useless. I can't believe we're actually rallying around him." This time Jet shoots her a glare as well. Carson decides to step in. "You and Jet should go in," he tells me, "it's not good for us to be camping out here with so many rogues. I've asked them to spread out so we're not drawing attention to ourselves and we need to find Grayshadow as soon as possible. Only you two have the right access in the camp. Plus, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we achieve the result we want. We don't want to wait until someone catches us." "I agree," I nod before Jet could argue. "We'll go now." Jet begins to protest but I drag him inside with me. We hastily sign in with the check-in guard who doesn't know about us ditching our work for the entire day and hurry in. "This is stupid," Jet grumbles, "we'll never find Grayshadow if he doesn't want to be found. This stronghold is too large for us to look for him." "Just keep an eye out, okay?" I mutter, trying to get him to shut up. "We can ask around to see if they know where Grayshadow is. With his position as a leader-in-contention, I'm sure someone will know him." "Knowing him and knowing where he is are two different matters." I shush him and we wander towards the residents of the camp, avoiding any soldier or warrior who might recognize us and accuse us of skipping duty this morning. But it doesn't take long for us to spot someone we know. The cat waves us over. Jet says he's talked to him a few times, but they're not close enough to know each other's schedule. "Hey Jet!" He grins at us, "It's been awhile." "Sure has," Jet grunts. He doesn't introduce me and I don't have any interest in knowing who he is. I give him a brisk nod and Jet gets right into it. "Do you happen to know a Grayshadow?" Jet asks, keeping his eyes bored as if he didn't really care if this cat knew or not. "Yeah," the cat nods, "he's around here a lot. Do you need him for something?" "Mhm, Lavender and I need to meet him for something today. We were directed around here; is he around?" "Yeah," the cat says again, "let me get him." He ambles away for a moment and Jet stretches his back. "Gosh, I hope Grayshadow doesn't drop any hints around here about us. I shouldn't have used your name." "No worries," I flick my tail, "We'll finish this mission fast enough for them not to be able to track us." Jet looks a bit dubious but he nods anyway. The cat comes back, his eyes looking troubled. "Bad news, I can't find Grayshadow. Somewhat good news, some of my friends just told me apparently they caught three rogues and three kits loitering around camp and they're not supposed to be there. Caught spying or something." Jet looks like he wants to ask why that's good news but I quickly thank the tom and drag Jet a few paces away. "Three rogues and three kits?" Jet finally spits out. "You know as well as I do who those cats are!" "I know," I shake my head. "This is your fault," he lashes his tail, "you forced me to come in here instead of watching over my siblings!" I draw back in shock. Anger flashes through me in an instant and I narrow my eyes at the black tom. It bothers me more than ever that he's always blaming me for everything. "You're blaming me?" "Yeah," he retorts, "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't dragged me along into camp." "Carson was the one who suggested the whole idea!" I raise my voice, but not enough to draw serious attention. "Why is it suddenly my fault?" You always blame me. I wanted to add, but that would just set Jet off. Our friends are more important. Jet doesn't have an answer for my question. I know he's just blaming me because I'm conveniently in front of him, but it still rubs me the wrong way. It doesn't matter what he thinks of you, I remind myself, we just have to save our friends ourselves if no one else can help us. I push back my feelings and stalk past Jet. He stares at me in disbelief, as if he thinks I'm bailing on our friends. "Come on," I say sharply, "do you want to save them or not?" Category:Two Wrongs Make It Right